Skip to Main Content
National News
FBI agents walk outside John Bolton’s house, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Bethesda, Maryland. PEDRO UGARTE / AFP via Getty Images
By ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press
updated on August 22, 2025 | 10:04 AM
3 minutes to read
Share
Share
Send this article to your social connections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is searching the Maryland home and Washington office of John Bolton, who served in President Donald Trump’s first administration as national security adviser but later became critical of the president, as part of an investigation into the handling of classified information, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.
Bolton was not detained and has not been charged with any crimes, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation by name and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
After the search at Bolton’s home started, he was spotted Friday morning standing in the lobby of the Washington building where he keeps an office and talking to two people with “FBI” visible on their vests. He left a few minutes later and appeared to have gone upstairs in the building. Agents were seen taking bags into the office building through a back entrance.
The searches appear to be the most significant public step the Justice Department has taken against a perceived enemy of the president, and they’re likely to elicit fresh criticism that the Trump administration is using its law enforcement powers to go after the Republican’s foes. The searches of Bolton’s home and office come as the Trump administration has taken steps to examine the activities of other critics, including by authorizing a grand jury investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.
Messages left with a spokesperson for Bolton were not immediately returned, and a lawyer who has represented Bolton had no immediate comment.
John Bolton, outside the White House, May 1, 2019. Evan Vucci / AP, File
The White House did not comment and referred questions about the probe to the FBI. The Justice Department also had no comment, but leaders appeared to cryptically refer to the search of Bolton’s home in a series of social media posts Friday morning.
FBI Director Kash Patel, who in a 2023 book he wrote included Bolton in a list of “members of the Executive Branch Deep State,” posted on X: “NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission.” Attorney General Pam Bondi shared his post, adding: “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.”
The Justice Department is also conducting mortgage fraud investigations into Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump and his company, and ex-Trump prosecutor Jack Smith faces an investigation from an independent watchdog office. Schiff and James have vigorously denied any wrongdoing through their lawyers.